NTFP research in the Tropenbos programme: Results and perspectives

WHEN THE MONKEY ‘GOES BUTCHER’: HUNTING, TRADING AND CONSUMPTION OF BUSH MEAT IN THE REGION OF THE TAÏ NATIONAL PARK, SOUTHWEST CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Hans-Ulrich Caspary1 The Tropenbos-Côte d’Ivoire programme/Humboldt University Berlin2

1. INTRODUCTION

In March 1998, a convention was set up between several partners to carry out research on the exploitation of wildlife in the region of Taï National Park (TNP)3. The study focuses on the importance and scale of village hunting and poaching and covers the various stages of game exploitation, ranging from hunting and consumption of bush meat by subsistence hunter households to the local commercialisation of game meat and the region’s input to the nationwide bush meat trade. The results of the study will help to answer two key questions about the management of the wildlife resources in the Taï region: 1. How, why and to what extent does the local population exploit game resources? 2. How can the game exploitation and marketing system be transformed into a more sustainable utilisation system?

The recommendations will be addressed to the National Park management. The study results should also contribute to the discussion about the nationwide reopening of hunting, announced by the Ivorian government in 1994 but still not signed and ratified4.

The research programme started in March 1998 and will continue until March 1999. The study area is located in the southwestern forest zone of Côte d’Ivoire and includes the TNP and N’Zo Game Reserve (Figure 1). These protected areas, which cover 457,000 ha and 79,000 ha, respectively, are located in the centre of the study area and include a large number of endemic flora and fauna species. The unique species composition in the Guinea forest belt had led to its classification by UNESCO as a MAB Reserve in 1978 and as a World Heritage Site in 1981.

The study focuses on the utilisation of 41 species and species groups of which form the largest element of more than 50 species of exploited wildlife. The local consumers of game are

1 Geographer associated with the Geographical Institute of the Humboldt University in Berlin, conducting research on wildlife use in the Tropenbos-Côte d‘Ivoire programme.

2 Oranienstrabe 2a, D-10 997 Berlin. E-mail: [email protected].

3 Partners include the Tropenbos Foundation, the PACPNT project (Autonomous Project for the Conservation of Taï National Park), the German Technical Assistance (GTZ) and the Humboldt University of Berlin. The research group furthermore includes Mr. Prouot Cyr (economist and local consultant to PACPNT), Mr. Koné Inza (PhD student in Biology at the University of Cocody, Abidjan), eleven prospectors in the peripherical zone of the protected areas and two observers covering the urban market sites in the study area.

4 Hunting in Côte d’Ivoire was forbidden by law in 1974. This prohibition is now under discussion, but game resources in protected areas will continue to be excluded from consumptive utilisation.

123 The Tropenbos Foundation, Wageningen, the Netherlands the nearby residents of the protected areas, living in the peripheral zones of TNP. They include five different Ivorian tribal groups (Baoulé, Bété, Guéré, Krou, and Wobé) and several non- Ivorian immigrant groups from Burkina Faso, Mali, and Liberia, the latter being refugees from the neighbouring civil war. Their principal source of income is based on agricultural activities, dominated by coffee and cacao plantations and the cultivation of rice.

utm 29N Duékoué Duékoué Guiglo

Lake of Buyo Issia The Study Region - Taï National Park and his boundary zones 700 000 N'Zo Buyo Legend (GR) ADK border of Taï (NP) and N'Zo (GR) Sassandra guard units

Soubré urban center

650 000 village in the boundary zone Taï Soubré (NP) study area Ca rivers and lakes vall surfaced lanes y Li earthroads be tracks 600 Méadji 000 ria the hereby presented border of the protected areas result from an interpretation of SPOT images by SCHWETER (1997)

0 10 20 km

650 000 700 000 750 000 San Pedro caspary 1999 - TROPENBOS-CI / PACPNT

Figure 1 The study area: Taï National Park and peripheral zone

The local population exploits game for its protein intake. In addition, they sell hunting products to local and external traders in the informal sector.

Several studies of game exploitation in the tropical African forest zone deal with informal exploitation groups (Fa et al., 1995 in Guinée équatoriale; Falconer and Koppel, 1990 in Ghana; Ziegler, 1996 in Guinée; Steel, 1994 in Gabon). In Côte d’Ivoire, the problem is that hunting and the trade in bush meat and hunting products are actually prohibited. Because of this complex situation, we have used a heterogeneous mixture of quantitative and qualitative research methods in order to obtain information from the local population of the areas surrounding the protected zones. Anonymity of the informants in this context is of utmost importance.

The methodology employed consisted of: - weekly inventories of game species and the quantities sold in the rural area, including 53 rural bush meat restaurants in eleven different villages and one rural market place in the protected areas peripheral zone; - weekly inventories of game species and the quantities sold in 70 urban bush meat restaurants located in four urban agglomerations and two urban market places around the protected areas;

124 NTFP research in the Tropenbos programme: Results and perspectives

- an inventory of the socio-economic characteristics of the market and the parties involved (hunters, restaurant owners, consumers, etc.) in the so-called filière de viande de brousse (bush meat marketing chain); - daily inventories of the number and destination of game species being exploited by ten subsistence hunters from the protected areas peripheral zone; - examination of local urban and rural people’s preferences in bush meat consumption; - analysis of the game species and the quantities of hunted or poached in the protected areas and sold in the peripheral zone (two villages); - investigation of the ways in which bush meat is transported from the rural to the urban areas and the quantities transferred; - observation of hunting activities, with a focus on the techniques employed (selective and non- selective), the seasonal characteristics of hunting (calendar of agricultural activities) and the degree of organisation of hunting activities (groups, camps).

Attention was also paid to the role of the different game species in totem5 and to their medicinal uses, as well as to the damage they cause to agriculture. In addition, the available quantities of animal protein from domestic livestock will be compared with those obtained from bush meat.

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taux (%) 30

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0 Anoma- Rat géant Grand Athérure Chauves- Civette Céph. à Céph. de Guib lure d'Emin Aulacode africain souris d'Afrique b.d.n. Max. harnaché

taux au nombre total taux au chiffre d'affaires total taux au poids carcasse total

Figure 2 Key species hunted and traded to game meat restaurants in villages neighbouring the Béki Forest Reserve (Southeast Côte d’Ivoire). Source: Caspary (in press).

Anomalure = Pel’s flying ; Rat géant d’Emin = Emin’s giant rat; Grand Aulacode = Greater cane rat; Athérure africain = African brush-tailed porcupine; Chauves-souris = bats; Civette = African civet; Céphalophe à bande dorsale noire = Bay duiker; Céphalophe de Maxwell = Blue Duiker; Guib harnaché = Bushbuck.

taux au nombre total = total number; taux au chiffres d’affaires total = % of total sales; taux au poids carcasse total = % of total slaughter weight.

5 See Section 3 for more information.

125 The Tropenbos Foundation, Wageningen, the Netherlands

2. INTERIM RESULTS

At the time of writing this article, fieldwork for this study is still going on. The first results will be available by the end of March 1999. We can nevertheless present some major conclusions by reference to a similar study in the more degraded forest zone of southeastern Côte d’Ivoire (Caspary, in press), where we conducted a study into the importance and potential of game utilisation in two forest reserves and their adjacent zones.

The TNP study area is located in the less developed region of Côte d’Ivoire’s forest zone. Population density is below the average, the timber industry and agriculture are poorly developed and islands of natural forest do still exist. Species diversity within the group of mammals exploited by subsistence hunters is still high, even outside the protected areas.

In contrast to degraded forest regions (Figure 2), where the range of hunted species is dominated by the greater cane rat, the African brush-tailed porcupine, the blue duiker and the bushbock, hunters in the southwestern region in general trap and shoot all species of (including the chimpanzee) and forest antelopes (including the Zebra Antelope and the Jentink’s duiker). According to the monthly reports of the Division Aménagement du Parc National Taï (PACPNT), the diversity of game meat seized during several anti-poaching controls at TNP (1993 - 1997) is dominated by monkeys (nearly 40 %), followed by all species of the duiker- group (more than 35 %)6.

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0 0 Fév Mars Avr Mai Juin Juil Aôut Sept Oct Nov Déc Jan Fév

Pluie Aulacode grand Athérure africain Guib harnaché

Figure 3 Fluctuations in the intensity of game exploitation – three key species of subsistence hunting in Aniassué (Southeast Côte d’Ivoire) 1996/97. Source: Caspary (in press).

pluie = precipitation; Grand Aulacode = Greater cane rat; Athérure africain = African brush-tailed porcupine; Guib harnaché = Bushbuck

6 Sources: monthly reports of the Division d‘Aménagement du PN Taï (PACPNT). The total of the random check (N) is 1,775 individuals.

126 NTFP research in the Tropenbos programme: Results and perspectives

The exploitation of game resources seems to vary with the intensity of labour input in agriculture, which in turn depends on the region’s annual precipitation (Figure 3). Additional factors, like the seasonally increased demand for bush meat in periods of high cash flow (e.g. during the coffee and cocoa harvest), differences in the spatial distribution of tribal groups and the ecological capacity of various habitats, may also determine the output of subsistence hunting and the availability of game for the local population.

3. THE ROLE OF GAME IN FOREST CONSERVATION

For the rural population in the study region and commonly in West Africa, wild game is the main source of meat and supplementary income. The fauna plays an important role in the regeneration of the natural vegetation of both non-exploited and degraded forest habitats. The spatial distribution of a considerable part of the floristic species in tropical forest ecosystems depends on wild animals which feed on forest fruits and thus contribute to the dispersion of seeds. A study on the role of Forest Elephants in the Forest Reserve of Bossematié (Southeastern Côte d’Ivoire) demonstrated their importance as the unique seed distributors of 16 floristic species in this forest reserve (Theuerkauf, 1994). However, the seed dispersal systems rely not only on ungulates and on the forest floor, but also on fruit-eating bats, hornbills and monkeys in the canopy (Martin, 1991).

The inhabitants of West African rain forests have always used game. Their culture is deeply influenced by forest ecosystems and wildlife, and conservation measures are quite common. Totem, for example, expresses the prohibition against consuming certain animal species, while the expression sacred means that certain areas within the traditional village territory are excluded from utilisation for consumption, such as hunting and slash and burn. These facts should not lead, however, to a romantic view of the local population as the major conservationists of forests and biological diversity. An evaluation of the hunting techniques actually employed in forest zones shows that they are not selective and neglect any idea of a wise use of game resources.

4. THE ROLE OF GAME RESOURCES IN SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT

The question of how the local population perceives the forest resources may shed a light on their potential role in wildlife management. To the rural population, forests are virgin and fertile areas for agriculture. Non-timber forest products like game are considered as cheap and available sources of food. Exploiting these resources is seen as regional rural development. The subsequent ecological degradation is something abstract, becoming real only in the long run. The local population does not at present take it into account.

Sustainable forest management implies controlled utilisation of forest resources according to land-use plans which are useful only if feasible and supported by the local population. The total exclusion of wildlife utilisation for consumption may be a solution for protected areas, but in the peripheral zones of protected areas and on communal lands the utilisation of game resources should be integrated into land-use plans in order to share the potential benefits of the resource with the local population. This may increase the acceptance of measures to prohibit exploitation in protected areas.

127 The Tropenbos Foundation, Wageningen, the Netherlands

Wildlife management which offers an economic benefit to the rural population can therefore contribute not only to sustainable forest management, but also to regional rural development, while disposing people towards the idea of conservation.

5. THE POTENTIAL OF GAME RESOURCES

The economics of wildlife utilisation in the study area are still unknown. In the West African subregion they can be considered at different levels. The macro economic importance of wildlife usage in several sub-Saharan countries is considerable. The annual gross income derived from village hunting (informal sector) in Côte d’Ivoire is estimated at US$ 121 million, whereas the incomes of the formal sector (wildlife tourism) reached only US$ 0.7 million. Similar proportions are known from Burkina Faso, where the formal sector (tourism, breeding, controlled village hunting and trophy hunting) reached a value of US$ 2.9 million, whereas the revenues of the informal sector (poaching and uncontrolled village hunting) were estimated at US$ 33.7 million (Chardonnet, 1995).

A look at the supplementary income derived from the consumption of game resources in small- scale agricultural households in southeastern Côte d’Ivoire shows that the annual income per capita is small. We estimated these incomes at 5,500 F.CFA (US$ 10 or ECU 8) for subsistence hunters and at 185,000 F.CFA (US$ 336 or ECU 308) for professional hunters (Caspary, in press; Dept. of Abengourou; prices in November 1998 values). These estimations should be regarded with caution, as the volume of bush meat consumption in the hunters’ households was unknown, so that the true value of game benefits has been underestimated.

Better profits are made by traders and keepers of game meat restaurants. On the basis of a volume of 12,600 animals or 58.33 tons of bush meat sold in 1996, and a total value of 40.33 million F.CFA (US$ 72,018 or ECU 61,106), we estimated that the average annual sales of hunting products in this region averaged 960,000 F.CFA (US$ 1,714 or ECU 1,455) in a typical game meat restaurant. This benefit is comparable to the income of an average agricultural household in the region, which ranges from 600,000 to 900,000 F.CFA when cocoa is the main cash crop and from 450,000 to 1,200,000 F.CFA where coffee is grown (Caspary, in press; Rummel-Shapiro, 1996).

Additional sources of potential income are wildlife tourism, captive breeding, and trophy and recreational hunting, as shown by the experiences in eastern and southern African countries (Swanson and Barbier, 1992). The development of these forms of wildlife utilisation in West Africa is still in an initial phase and offers possibilities to share the benefits of wild game conservation with the local population.

6. CONCLUSIONS AND PERSPECTIVES

An overestimate of the above potentials may lead to excessive utilisation of game resources. The densities of game species are often unknown and determining maximum harvesting rates for controlled village hunting - thus guaranteeing sustainable wildlife use in ecological terms - is therefore hardly possible. The hunting techniques actually employed are not selective, which means that game resources are not being exploited sustainably. Profit-oriented wildlife tourism in

128 NTFP research in the Tropenbos programme: Results and perspectives protected areas holds the risk of overestimating the carrying capacity of these often very fragile areas. Profit-oriented trophy hunting can wipe out the large mammals even faster than subsistence hunting. The loss of natural habitats by uncoordinated land use and agricultural expansion is, however, the most common threat to sustainable wildlife management.

These economic utilisation options are out of order in the TNP study area because the region’s high protection status.

Both consumptive and non-consumptive utilisation of game resources should nevertheless be discussed for the peripheral zones of protected areas and communal lands. Restrictions have to be imposed when the consumptive utilisation in non-classified areas is in conflict with the regional or national environmental legislation and strategies.

The informal sector’s interests in the long-term utilisation of game resources are more significant than is often supposed. Nationwide hunting and trading bans automatically exclude the whole population from the legal benefits of the resource, without consideration of the species hunted and traded. People’s sense of responsibility for game resource management is lost if this responsibility is transferred to the national administration. The participation of organised groups (hunters, traders, restaurant keepers) in restricted game utilisation and the transformation of the hidden trade in the informal sector into legalised and transparent marketing simplifies the conditions for a sustainable wildlife management.

Future studies on game utilisation in the region of TNP and the West African subregion should concentrate on: - the integration of game resource management in land-use and forest management plans; - the employment of traditional, cheap and selective hunting techniques in order to decrease non-selective hunting; - captive breeding in order to increase the amount of animal protein available to the local population; - the dissemination of results of wildlife management research obtained in the more experienced countries of East and Southern Africa; and - ecological research into the density of game populations and sustainable harvest rates per species.

These aspects should take precedence over aesthetically and romantically motivated biological research, with not only protected areas being taken into consideration, but also degraded habitats and communal lands, which offer a high potential for measures of wildlife management.

7. REFERENCES

Caspary, H.-U. (in press). Importance et potentiel de l’utilisation de la faune sauvage au Sud- est de la Côte d’Ivoire. Thèse de doctorat en Géographie à la Faculté II des Mathématiques et des Sciences naturelles à l’Université d’Humboldt Berlin, Germany. Chardonnet, P. (1995). Faune sauvage africaine. La ressource oubliée (2 tomes). Fondation International pour la Sauvegarde de la Faune / CIRAD-EMVT, Luxembourg. Fa, J.E., Juste, J. , Pérez del Val, J. and Castro Viejo, J. (1995). Impact of market hunting on species in Equatorial Guinea. Conservation Biology, 9(5): 1107-1115.

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Falconer, J. and Koppel, C. (1990). The major significance of minor forest products: the local use and value of forests in the West-African humid forest zone. Community Forests Note 6, FAO, Rome, Italy. Martin, C. (1991). The rainforests of West Africa. Ecology, threats, conservation. Birkhaüser, Basel, Switzerland. Rummel-Shapiro, S. (1996). Wirtschaftlichkeitsanalysen von Maßnahmen zur Intensivierung der kleinbäuerlichen Plantagenwirtschaft (Kaffee/Kakao). Report for PROSTAB, P.N. 90.2190.8-01.100). Unpublished. Eschborn, Germany. Schweter, M. (1997). Interprétation des Images SPOT - Détermination de la surface de forêt du Parc National de Taï avant 1993. Report for PACPNT. Unpublished. San-Pedro, Côte d’Ivoire. Steel, E.A. (1994). Étude sur le volume et la valeur du commerce de la viande de brousse au Gabon. WWF Programme pour le Gabon, Libreville. Swanson, T.M. and Barbier, E.B. (1992). Economics for the wilds. Wildlife, wildlands, diversity and development. Earthscan Publications Ltd., London, United Kingdom. Theuerkauf, J. (1994). Ökologische Untersuchungen am Afrikanischen Waldelefanten (Loxodonta africana cyclotis Matschie, 1900) als Grundlage für die Bewertung der Habitatqualität und das Management im Staatswald Bossematié, Elfenbeinküste. Diplomarbeit an der Philipps Universität Marburg. Unpublished, Marburg, Germany. Ziegler, S. (1996): Une première analyse de la chasse dans le Parc National du Haut Niger. Nature et Faune, 12(4): 13-29.

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